


Liquid Glass, Drowning Fire, Shattered Water

by Enbies_Committing_Felonies



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: ...The keeper crew has a sleepover, Angst, Angst and Feels, Bed-sharing, Biana gets that "emotional numbness", Dadwin, Dark!Linh, Della and Elwin give the best hugs fight me on this, F/F, FedEx, Fitz has chronic pain from his echo, Fitz just wants to keep his sister safe, Gen, Heavy Angst, Kam - Freeform, Keefe gets ALL the father figures I want him to dammit!, Linh joins the Neverseen, M/M, Multi, Neverseen!Alden...?, No beta we die like Kenric, Pining, Some hurt/comfort, Tiergan adopted Linh and Tam, alden is a BITCH boyTM and we hate him, alden is a manipulative asshole, and my bible reference, but still, catch my macbeth reference, for sad reasons..., he also semi-adopted Keefe, marellinhiana, no beta we D I E, no beta we die like Forkle. 1, no beta we die like calla, please pretend that that means I'm smart and put thought into it, the title is based off of each of their abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29049474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enbies_Committing_Felonies/pseuds/Enbies_Committing_Felonies
Summary: Linh breaks two girls hearts when she leaves, but they don't stop loving her.Based off of this dialogue prompt:“I’d die for you!!” “you will…”
Relationships: Biana Vacker & Fitz Vacker, Della Vacker & Biana Vacker & Fitz Vacker, Dex Dizznee/Fitz Vacker, Elwin & Keefe Sencen, Keefe Sencen/Tam Song, Marella Redek/Linh Song/Biana Vacker, Prentice Endal/Tiergan, Sophie Foster & Edaline Ruewen & Grady Ruewen, Tam Song & Tiergan, Tiergan & Keefe Sencen
Comments: 14
Kudos: 11





	Liquid Glass, Drowning Fire, Shattered Water

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings are: swearing, death mentions, blood mentions, and a (very brief) description of what a car accident is like.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy this angst <3  
> ~~  
> I swear guys, this was so much fun to write and I was thriving AND THEN PART OF IT DELETED ITSELF because it didn't save and the tab closed, and I hit a block for a little bit, but then I came back with a VENGEANCE and tbh,, I kinda actually love this

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Granted, things with the Neverseen never exactly ‘went to plan’, but it wasn’t supposed to go like _this_.

There was always manipulation with the Neverseen, always mind games and guilt, cajoling and blaming, but at the end of the day, they only won if they held all the cards, if they placed the right threats and knew the right words.

Well, they must have known the right words all right, because the Neverseen had gotten away, but this time Linh was one of them. _Linh_. Biana felt a cottony buzzing in her ears and shook her head in an effort to make it clear. She tried to harness her thoughts, but they scattered around like so many birds and she knew she couldn’t grasp them.

 _Linh_. Biana cast her gaze around for Tam, but she couldn’t focus her eyes, couldn’t hear anything but the buzzing. She had fallen to her knees. When had that happened? When had- ?

She felt like she was floating. Her ears were filled with clouds and she had crumpled to her knees on the ground like so many drops of rain but she was _floating_. Surely she was floating, because she would look down and there beneath her would lay the blanket of lights in the city below, and she would look down and it would be obscured by a quilt of a thousand clouds, _surely_ she was floating. She had to be.

Floating like oil does when rain pounds into asphalt roads, waiting for the cars to come, to slip, waiting for the screech of crumpling metal and the sickening squeal and slam of the car flipping over and over and over.

Maybe Biana wasn’t floating, because maybe she was the unwary car, the driver just wanting to get home, the passenger sleeping beside them, the strangers walking by, maybe she was all the little pieces of catastrophe moments before it all goes wrong.

Maybe she wasn’t floating, but she sure as hell was falling.

The buzzing became a piercing shriek, cutting through her head like those words that keep echoing. Keep shattering. Keep breaking against her mind like crashing waves. Biana’s voice, screaming, _Linh!!_ Linh responding, _I always have been the Girl of Many Floods_.

And she was, wasn’t she? Were her words not drowning Biana right now? Did they not sweep over her in cascading waves, ripping her foundations from beneath her?

The shriek cut off in the tinkling of glass, as if that’s what Biana’s heart had been before it was shattered, then the rest of her hearing faded back and Biana took a shaky breath and let it.

Keefe’s attempts at gentle reassurances to Tam, whose voice was hoarse from screaming as it cried out, washed over her. Biana raised her eyes. Marella stood tall and resolute against a backdrop of greys and blacks, her fists clenched at her side, her jaw working, a few embers growing dimmer near her feet, sparks caught in her hair. Her face was firm, but by the way the ash on her face shone... Biana knew she was crying. To the side, Sophie stood, staring blankly at the place where the Neverseen and Linh- where the _Neverseen_ leapt away, leaving destruction in their wake.

Another breath replaced the stillness Biana felt, and the air was cool and thick in her lungs. To her side, Dex was carefully watching as Fitz downed an elixer, and her eyes traced the way he favoured his leg. His echo was mostly gone, but-

Her knees nearly gave out from under her when Biana stood, but she just clenched her teeth.

The buzzing returned, quieter, more muted this go-around, sometime between when she took Sophie’s hand to break her from her trance and when she whispered a soft ‘thank you’ to Dex for taking care of Fitz. The world lay in ruins around her feet, but it was all blurred.

Did devastation always cause this numbness? This sense of apathy?

Biana brushed a tattered strand of hair behind Sophie’s ear.

“ _Stay here, okay?_ ” Her voice came from the end of a tunnel, but Sophie nodded back numbly and Biana made her way back to Fitz and Dex. Keefe was still murmuring to Tam.

“ _Can he walk?_ ” She held her finger up when Fitz tried to respond, keeping her gaze on Dex, who looked up from where he sat beside Fitz.

“ _I’m not sure,_ ” He admitted, voice thick and subdued. She was sure that if she looked at Fitz, she would find his eyes burning with fury, with grief, but Dex’s periwinkle eyes were blank, covered only with a sheen of ignored tears. This day had broken more than just hearts; it had broken _people_.

People Biana thought that Linh had loved.

Biana had thought she was one of them, and now that love ached like bruises on her knees and heart. Ached like the thunder curling across the sky.

Biana clenched her jaw and moved on to Marella. Her limbs moved mechanically, her mouth opened, a hug, a hollow reassurance to the Pyrokinetic who lost her best friend, moved to Keefe and Tam. Her eyes glossed over the rubble, her brain skipping and repeating like a broken record.

And then she was kneeling beside Tam and urging him up and she wanted to cry because she knew this would destroy him, but she couldn’t even though she knew how this was tearing him apart, she couldn’t cry and her throat didn’t get tight and tears didn’t well up because somehow this had broken her to the point of becoming empty.

Empty in a way that cannot be filled.

Empty in a way that cannot give anymore, when it has already given too much.

Thunder rumbled again and the first few drops of rain plopped to the earth like falling angels. Biana offhandedly wondered if they left the shadows of burnt wings when they finally hit the ground, or if it was already too scorched. 

A drop landed on top of her head, and for a second it stunned her. Jolted her out of whatever dream-state she was in. Her eyes welled-up and her chest constricted, her throat felt like it burned and for that moment she wanted nothing more than to scream, scream until her throat bled and the only thing that could come out was a broken whisper.

And then that moment ended. The tears did not fall, screams did not rip past her lips like a tragic symphony, her chest did not collapse in on itself. Biana did not mourn.

Rain fell around her as she gathered her friends. It dripped from her fingers and soaked her hair. The rain began healing the singed ground, washing away the ash from the air. She didn’t feel it. 

She didn’t feel anything.

~~

_In another time, she would have thought about the girl who could have rolled back the clouds like scrolls, or made a dome of the rain, keeping all of her friends dry. She would have thought of the way she would look, concentrating hard, her face stern and yet, beautiful. How could it not be? It was Linh, and Linh would be beautiful no matter what. Even with eyebrows furrowed, even with an off-kilter glint in her eye, even as she dragged a knife across the back of everyone who loved her, before stabbing it down, piercing their hearts._

_Linh wasn’t the girl who would hold the sky to keep rain from falling on her friends anymore._

_Linh wasn’t their friend anymore._

_Linh was Neverseen._

~~

They arrived at Havenfield, dirty and battered, weary and war-torn. Fitz limped, arm flung over Dex’s shoulders, eyes dripping hot, angry tears. Dex looked lost, wounded, like the first moments after a kid crashes from a bike, not registering the pain, but still hurting.

Keefe had wrapped an arm around Tam’s waist, and he whispered words into his boyfriend’s ears too low for anyone else to hear, low enough that they might as well join the deep aching buzz still echoing around Biana’s head. Tam was clutching at the back of Keefe’s torn tunic with one hand, fabric gathered and clutched in a white-knuckled grip, and the other he simply stared at, as if it were the hand of a stranger. Maybe it was. Maybe he would never recognize it again. After all, he had known Linh like the back of his hand, hadn’t he?

And they had all seen how that turned out.

Sophie’s hand, held in Biana’s own since the leap from the battle, slipped from her grasp and she collapsed into the arms of her mother. Grady’s arms circling them both.

The adults surrounded them, and Biana knew there would be questions, but for now there was a hush, an unnatural silence, like the moments after a bomb has gone off, or the final moments before a tsunami reaches shore; the ocean pulling back as if retreating, and then sweeping in with destruction and chaos caught on the train of its wedding dress on the day it marries death.

Tiergan embraced Tam (his arms wrapping around Keefe as well, and Biana heard the exact moment Keefe broke) and when Tam finally managed to choke out the news Tiergan let out a soft cry. No one should ever lose their child, but knowing you lost your child to themself-

Marella was pulled into the hug with them by Wylie, whose face was stony. She turned her face away, but Biana knew her tears still fell.

Elwin hurried to ask who was most hurt, and even as Biana mechanically answered him, his voice came through like something from a dream. He nodded though, and went to press a quick kiss to the top of Keefe’s head before turning to tend to Fitz’s leg. Dex answered whatever questions Elwin had, all the while holding Fitz’s hand and brushing kisses against his knuckles.

And so Biana sat alone.

Della and Alden were off somewhere, on some sort of mission for the Council. Maybe they had gone to the forbidden cities. It didn’t really matter though, a too-tight hug and a thousand questions from worried parents wouldn’t take away how Biana felt.

Or how she didn’t feel?

It was as if she were a piece of sea glass. Smooth as a drop of rain, but with the memories of shattering and sharp edges, cutting and broken and a hundred pieces of what should be a whole. What _used to be_ a whole.

Biana blinked and they were inside the house, Edaline offering towels to them, offering showers, a place to stay for the night.

“ _You shouldn’t have to go back alone_.” Alone to face the thoughts that already tore them all apart. Remembering _Linh_ alone. Breaking alone. _Being_ alone.

They stayed.

Eventually the hugs and tears died down and the shell-shocked teens were asked to explain.

Dex’s voice came clearer than the rest had been, but Biana’s eyes caught the way his breathing hitched and dragged, the way he held onto Fitz’s hand like maybe he was more affected than he let on, like maybe he was drowning, like maybe Fitz’s hand was a lifeline, the rest that comes with the eye of the storm.

Marella added where Dex could not, but her words were markedly more bitter. Biana thinks she loved Linh once, loved her the way Biana did when she still felt anything at all. But either way, Marella lost her best friend to the girl who joined the Neverseen.

Tam’s eyes were red, but Keefe’s had dried and he had gone back to murmuring whatever comfort he could offer. He didn’t joke, he just gave his heart to Tam. Briefly, Biana wondered if Keefe was even hurting that much, or if he had just broken down from being an empath and feeling the pain from Tam, Tiergan, AND Wylie.

She shook her head; that wasn’t fair to him.

The night dragged on, creeping in it’s petty pace and all the while pulling Biana along, an unwilling prisoner to the passing of time. At last, it was all explained, described, laid bare for all the adults to see. Elwin gathered Keefe into his arms, letting the blond boy cry and hold onto him with the last strength Keefe had left. 

In a separate corner, Tam, Tiergan, and Wylie sat together, holding each other and sharing their grief. Biana took in Tiergan’s stricken face, the way his olive skin-tone had gone ashy, the way his eyes welled and his lips drew themselves into a tight line. Biana remembered his pain when the Neverseen had attacked Wylie, but this... 

Time pulled forwards, and in its toiling the buzzing background was slowly subdued, and then, finally, ceased to ring in her ears, leaving behind it a hollow ache so large it could have sucked the air from her lungs.

Was apathy always so overwhelming?

Tiergan eventually took his sons and Keefe home, back to Prentice and an empty room where their daughter once stayed. Marella turned down the invitation to go with them, choosing instead to accept Edaline’s offer (request?) to stay, along with Biana, Fitz and Dex. After a while she disappeared, likely to take a shower or to mourn.

“Aunt Eda?” Dex asked, voice thick, “can Fitz and I share a room for tonight?” Edaline, whose face was already so gentle with sorrow, softened as she looked at how Dex sat on Fitz’s lap, their hands intertwined, and nodded.

“Of course, Dex. There’s a room we recently renovated to have more beds in it, for sleepovers you know, so if you’d like, Marella, Biana, and you and Fitz can all sleep there.” Dex nodded gratefully and then closed his eyes as Fitz placed a gentle kiss on his jaw.

Dex’s periwinkle eyes were watery when he finally broke, crying against Fitz as Fitz looked at him with a fierce and grief-filled gaze. A look so strong with love that Biana almost hurt to see it. She ached with the enormity of his stare.

Scanning the room -avoiding her brother’s burning eyes- she caught sight of Grady. He had taken Edaline’s hand in his own, rubbing soothing motions onto the back of it with his thumb, while his other arm pulled Sophie close against him. Grady had his nose pressed into Sophie’s hair as he kissed the top of her head, her face buried into his chest as she wept. Biana wondered if Alden would have embraced her, if her mother would have taken her into her arms and whispered that it would be alright, if-

She turned away.

Biana made her way to the kitchen. No one would be there to pierce her with a gaze not even directed at her.

Or maybe they would. Marella sat perched on the crystal countertop, her legs gently swinging as she stared down at a ripplepuff clutched in her hands. Her hair was still slightly damp from her shower and she raised an eyebrow as Biana entered the room.

Her face was wet.

“Needed to find a silent place to cry, Vacker?” She scoffed, but it might have been a sniff as she tossed the ripplepuff -chocolate raspberry- to Biana. “You picked the right place, at least here there are snacks.”

“I haven’t been crying,” Biana stated, “and I won’t.”

The words came out clipped, and abruptly Marella hopped down from the counter and strode over to stand directly in front of Biana. Her eyes blazed, and there was something so anguished in their sky blue that had Biana, even as apathetic as she was, itching to take Marella’s hands, to smooth her wrinkled brow. As it was, Biana’s hand stayed at her sides, one still clutching the ripplepuff.

“Of course you won’t.” Marella spat, and Biana almost wondered if she saw a spark flicker from her mouth. “Why would you? After all, at least she loved you back!!”

Marella’s chest was heaving and steaming tears slipped down her flushed cheeks. Her eyes still blazed but they were so full of pain- The world fell apart around Biana and suddenly she could _feel_.

She could feel the way her lungs gasped for air, like she was drowning, like Linh’s words were once again water flooding her very soul. She could trace the way the pain tore at her throat and choked her, stinging her eyes and burning at her eyelids. She felt it all, every moment from the second Linh had shouted the words ‘ _Surrender, I am joining the Neverseen!_ ’ to this endless scene in the Ruewen’s kitchen, the heartwrenching face of Marella staring back at her. 

Every minute from then until this, every moment when she couldn’t feel joined hands now against her, because now she could, and she did, and _it broke her_.

And then Marella was wrapping her arms around her and holding her close and Biana hadn’t hugged anyone in so long but now her heart was breaking all over again and she and Marella weren’t fighting, they were just two girls who had loved someone and lost them. Just two lonely girls who had loved a girl only to have her torn away by her own hands. And for the first time since it all came crashing down, Biana _felt_ , and Biana _cried_.

Through her hiccupping sobs she could hear Marella whispering into her ear, feel her stroking her hair, holding her.

“ _Shh, I’m sorry, that wasn’t right of me. I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that, it’s okay, it’ll be okay_.”

Biana heaved a deep breath in, and with her nose buried as it was into Marella’s shoulder and damp hair, she could smell the lavender of the shampoo and conditioner that Marella must have used. She breathed it deeply in, letting it wash over her, calming her racing heart.

It might have only been a few moments, or it might have been almost an hour that they stayed that way, Marella’s slender hands running through Biana’s hair, unconsciously untangling and unknotting it, Biana’s arms wrapped tightly around Marella’s waist, hands clutching her shirt.

“How did you know?” Biana whispered into Marella’s neck, “How did you know I loved her?” Now that she wasn’t numb anymore, she could feel the twinge that came with saying ‘love’ past-tense.

Marella finally pulled away, cupping Biana’s cheeks with her hands, her thumbs rubbing away the streaks that tears had left in the ash on Biana’s skin. 

“Everyone loved her,” Marella quietly responded, “With us- with us... we just loved her differently, Biana. I don’t think people could _not_ see it.”

She trailed a finger down Biana’s face and gave the saddest smile Biana had ever seen.

“Take a shower, Bi. We can talk about her once you’re cleaned up and comfortable.”

Looking down at her arms, Biana could see the way the ash and grime from today had caked on, making her normally soft brown skin look grey, streaked from rain and hugging Marella.

“Okay,” She whispered, “okay.”

~~

There was something about the shower that felt like it didn’t just wash away the dirt that covered her body, but cleansed something in Biana’s heart too.

The water poured over her, and she closed her eyes against it, letting it heal as best it could. Showers couldn’t fix everything, but ones like these... they came close to trying.

At last, when she stepped out, dripping and scrubbed clean, Biana felt renewed. 

She toweled of her hair, not minding that it didn’t dry fully, and got dressed before heading back downstairs to where everyone else was. She could do this. They would be okay.

It would be okay.

~~

Keefe arrived at Tiergan and Prentice’s house emotionally spent. He had cried for a few minutes when Tiergan first heard the news, then a bit more when Elwin hugged him, and now his face was dry, but his heart still ached. It didn’t matter though, he had to be there for Tam, had to somehow fill the gaping hole in his boyfriend’s heart, like his own hadn’t been torn out as well.

The two boys sat on Tam’s bed, their backs against a wall of pillows. Tiergan had collapsed against Prentice as soon as they had crossed the threshold, and Wylie had gone out. They sat together in silence, Tam’s back against Keefe’s chest, his head tilted back. One of Keefe’s hand subconsciously ran through Tam’s hair, and the other curled around Tam’s side, laying in his lap. Tam messed with it, bending his fingers and tapping along his palm, and with every touch his sadness burrowed deeper into Keefe, who felt lost.

Linh had practically been his sister. He can’t count the times he’d rub his knuckles on the top of her head and laugh when she’d splash him in retaliation, the times that she’d excitedly babble about a cute animal she’d seen, making Tam roll his eyes fondly and Keefe flick the back of his boyfriends head while encouraging her. Keefe had never had a sibling, had never really had a family like that, but after dating Tam and growing so close to both of the twins-

He was devastated. He just didn’t know how to acknowledge that.

“Keefe?” Tam’s voice was raw and scratchy from crying (and briefly screaming, the moments after Linh had left).

“Yeah darling?” For a second Keefe had to stop breathing, his chest constricted and he felt hot tears beginning to well up, but he pushed them back and swallowed hard.

Tam was silent for a bit before responding.

Eventually he lifted Keefe’s hand to his lips and kissed his fingertips, heaving a shuddering sigh.

“I just needed to know you’re here,” He admitted, brokenly, “I love you.”

Keefe would not cry again. He wouldn’t, dammit, because he didn’t deserve to grieve while his boyfriend was falling apart, he didn’t deserve to mourn someone when he didn’t even stop her from leaving. He didn’t stop Linh from leaving. He didn’t-

And then Keefe was shaking and it felt like the air in his lungs had been replaced with soot, clogging his airways and choking him. It felt like all he could do was exhale, exhale until his lungs collapsed on themselves, exhale until there was no more air, no more soot, no more drowning in ash. A whimper slipped out harshly against the silence Tam’s words had left littered behind them, and Keefe tried to bite back the noise as he fell apart.

Tam immediately twisted around to check on Keefe, and his face crumpled as he took in the way Keefe’s features twisted as he struggled to breathe and cry.

“Oh Keefe,” Tam choked out, “Keefe baby, I’m here.” He half-rolled off of Keefe’s lap, pulling his boyfriend with him, so that their positions were switched. Keefe tried to stop crying, to stop shaking and letting out whimpers as his heart finally let itself shatter, but it was too late. He buried his face into Tam’s chest and wept.

“It’s not- It’s not _fair_ Tam. She shouldn’t- and I should have been- but I couldn’t *hic* and now she’s _gone_ Tam. We’ve lost her. We lost her and- it’s all my *hic* fault!! Fuck Tam, I can’t- I can’t do this.” He sobbed out, breath coming in ragged jerks.

“I can’t lose her Tam. She was my- my little sister Tam. I wasn’t even *hic* related to her, but- I loved- I loved you, and I loved her like- like a sister. Dammit Tam, I can’t- !! I only have you now. And I don’t- I don’t know _how_... I don’t know how to do this Tam. Not without you. You can’t ever leave, okay Tam? You can’t-” Keefe trailed off lungs still sucking air jaggedly, still sobbing against Tam’s chest. Tam closed his eyes hard, silent tears slipping down, and held him. What else could he do? What else would he be forced to give?

They would be okay. They had to be.

They had to be.

~~

“Marella?” Biana’s bare feet padded down the hallway to one of the Ruewen’s many ‘living’ rooms. Marella had said she would be waiting there, and sure enough, there she sat, surrounded by blankets and holding a small plate of prattles and sugarknotts. In her hands, Marella held a small ball of flame. It quavered and trembled, dipping smaller and larger like a tiny, frightened breathing thing. For once in her life, Biana wished she could touch fire without being burned; she wanted to comfort the tiny flame, remind it that things aren’t always scary.

Marella looked up at Biana and winked the flame away, wiping her palms on the -admittedly oversized- pair of lavender pajama pants that she had borrowed from Sophie. Biana felt the briefest of losses for the flame, and settled down beside Marella.

“Did everyone else already head to bed?” Biana questioned. She could see the sun just beginning to set, through the crystal windows surrounding the room. Had it really been just this morning that the sky had darkened with soot and rain? That they had lost Linh? The weather had cleared, but her heart remained heavy.

“Edaline is preparing a human drink that Sophie wanted, so Sophie went with her to help and Dex and Fitz went to the room we’re sharing, whether to talk or sleep, I don’t know.” Marella twisted her hands into the soft blanket on her lap, and her short hair hanging in waves to her chin, framing her face. She had cut it one day when all the girls were doing a makeover, and Biana found that it suited her quite well.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Marella twisting her hands tighter into the blanket and Biana staring down at her own until-

“I’m sorry again,” Marella said abruptly, “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you just because you were processing the pain differently. It wasn’t fair to assume you didn’t care the same because I thought she liked you back.”

The ice was broken and Biana angled herself closer to Marella, taking one of her warm hands into her own.

“Marella,” Biana whispered, holding Marella’s gaze with a solemn determination, “I don’t blame you, okay? I forgive you. We’re both grieving, and that means our emotions are all wacky, so I can’t judge you for hurting.”

Marella gave a deep, shuddery sigh, as if she had been holding her breath, and nodded.

“Thank you,” She whispered back, and Biana gave a sad, understanding smile in return.

“Of course.”

They were silent again for a brief moment, and then Biana blurted out-

“How? Or why... why did you think she liked me?”

Marella flushed, her hands growing warmer in Biana’s grasp.

“I- uh...Well... It’s because I watched. Not in like, a creepy way! I just- I watched how she interacted with people, and with you... Well, it was different.”

“Oh.”

Marella nodded and slumped back against the couch, and then glanced at Biana.

“She would smile at you, and it would look like she was a Flasher with how brightly she shone. The way she talked about you, Vacker- It was like she’d seen the sun, and it was you.” Her eyes were wistful now, and her thumb traced absently over Biana’s knuckles.

Biana’s cheeks burned.

“But, Marella- She did the same thing about you too? She would ramble about your training sessions and your talent. Marella, if I hadn’t thought you had stopped liking her, I would have thought you were together.”

Marella’s thumb abruptly stopped.

“Really?” Her voice was a careful balance between hopeful and broken. There’s a certain pain that comes from someone loving you after you lost them.

Biana leaned towards Marella slightly, tilting her head forwards to look at Marella’s face and waited for her to make eye-contact.

“Really. I think... I think she was in love with you.” _I know I am_.

And she was. She had been for a long time. She was in love with Marella’s smirk, and the way she tapped her fingers when anxious or bored. She was in love with the way she would grab Keefe or Tam (or even Wylie) and rub her knuckles on the top of their head while threatening their knees (and smiling the whole time).

She was in love with her in a different but paralleled way that she was in love with Linh. It was complete and fulfilling in the same way loving Linh was tragic and broken.

Biana was just as sure about her love for Marella as she was Linh’s love for Marella, or Marella’s love for Linh. And in Marella’s gaze? Biana thought she found the same thing.

Marella must have seen something in Biana’s eyes, a chord of truth, or maybe aching, because she gave a sad smile and began rubbing her thumb across Biana’s knuckles again, this time with more purpose.

“I loved her too,” Marella admitted, “Still do, maybe. I don’t know which hurts more to believe; that I don’t love her anymore, or that I always will.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, like she could cleanse the pain if she just exhaled enough, and then opened them again to meet Biana’s eyes.

“The truth is,” Marella started, her voice soft, “we both love her, and I think we’ll be forgiving ourselves for that the rest of our lives.”

~~

Marella and Biana talked late, sharing stories about Linh, and later on, their childhoods. They cried a few times, holding hands and just sitting close. What else could they do? 

Eventually the last remnants of the sunset faded into twilight, and from twilight came a deep midnight. Still, they talked. They talked until their eyes were too heavy with grief and exhaustion, and they fell asleep, Biana’s hands clutching Marella’s, their bodies pressed close together.

It’s strange, the passing of time. In the span of one day, you can lose one love, and gain another.

~~

Fitz opened his eyes blearily, slowly taking in his surroundings. White moonlight streamed in from the open curtains, his hand tangled in Dex’s hair as Fitz spooned him and he breathed deeply. And then winced.

He was prepared for the various bruises and scratches from the fight, even for the dry, sandy feeling in his eyes from crying, but his leg-

The fight had caused his echo to act back up, and now it _hurt_.

Fitz was grateful that Flori had found a song that made the echo fade, even fall into a sort of hibernation, because if she hadn’t it would likely be enough to make him cry out. As it was though, the pain was enough to make him gasp and cringe. He sucked in a sharp breath, holding deathly still when he felt Dex stir, and cautiously looked over to the other beds in the Ruewen’s guest room.

Empty. 

His chest tightened and he fought the urge to jump out of bed, tearing the covers off in the process, and rip apart the house in a search for Biana. He swallowed hard and eased away from Dex, giving a regretful sigh as he felt his fingers slip from Dex’s soft curly hair. He could cuddle his boyfriend later, for now he needed to calm down and make sure Biana was okay.

He slipped out of bed and bit back a hiss as his feet hit the ground, a jolt of pain striking up his leg at the impact. He was fine. He was _fine_.

He gritted his teeth and his chest tightened more, memories from Umber’s attack mixing with yesterday’s battle, making fear and anger dance through him like a haunted dirge for better memories.

He took a step. Clenched his jaw. He was fine.

 _He was fine_.

Fitz made his way through the silent house, ignoring the way his breathing grew ragged with pain after only a few steps. It was eerie, walking through a completely quiet house, remembering but not quite feeling sorrow you just experienced. 

His heart beat faster with each empty room, and he fought back the panic and the pain in his leg that came with it.

 _It’s just the echo, Biana’s fine. She’s fine. She’s fine_ -

He stumbled into -yet another- living room and sighed in relief. There was Biana, cuddling close against Marella, a soft breath parting her lips every few seconds. Her face was peaceful, and the older brother part of Fitz wanted to scream at the unfairness of knowing that she would wake up and have to remember what Linh did.

Every day she would wake up-

He pushed that thought away as soon as he felt himself beginning to get angrier. He wondered if he would do that the rest of his life: get angry, feel the pain in his leg, bottle the anger away...

Marella shifted in her sleep and Fitz watched the way they gravitated together, even asleep there was something so adoring about them. He wondered what it would have been like if Linh was with them; three girls in love, wrapped up happily in each others arms.

He didn’t know how to be in love with more than one person, how to share someone like that, to be able to give that much of yourself away. But he didn’t need to be able to relate in order to understand why Biana’s eyes glittered when she was around Marella and Linh. He was only sad that now she wouldn’t have the chance to live that love for the both of them.

Fitz stood in the doorway for a bit, his weight shifted off of his hurting leg, and just watched them. Now that he knew where Biana was - _safe, she was safe-_ the panic had subsided a little, but it still ached horribly. He massaged it absentmindedly. 

Eventually he heaved a sigh and pushed himself off from the doorframe. The couch was uncomfy as hell, and he wasn’t going to let them stay there the whole night when there was a perfectly nice bed upstairs. 

He made his way to the couch and gently slipped his arm beneath Biana’s shoulders after moving her hands from Marella’s, and put the other hand under the crook of her knees. He groaned slightly as he shifted his weight to lift her up; his leg grew fiery with pain. She wasn’t the little kid she used to be. 

He straightened up completely, this time with only a quiet grunt. Neither was he.

Fitz prepared to carry Biana to the bed waiting upstairs, but as soon as he took a step Marella sat up groggily and lit the room with a small fireball.

“Wha’ the fuck, who’s there?!” She yell-whispered, and Fitz bit back an angry snipe at her. He really needed to get a handle on his pain.

“It’s me,” Fitz whispered as quietly as he could, “I’m bringing Biana up to bed. I can carry you too if you want.” The offer was part jest and part sincere, but he was relieved when Marella put out the fireball with a small snort-laugh.

“I think I’ll pass Wonderboy.” After a moment’s consideration she added, “I do think I’ll join her in the bed though. It would be more comfortable there.”

Fitz gave a silent nod and took the lead, trying not to grimace too hard as he stumbled with the weight of his sister in his arms. The stairs were the worst, and there were a few instances when a pain-filled grunt or whimper managed to slip out, but Marella didn’t comment, and for that, Fitz was grateful.

They made it up to the room and Fitz could have cried in relief. His leg was screaming at him. But he tenderly set Biana on the bed after Marella kindly pulled back the covers, and he brushed a strand of hair from Biana’s peaceful face. Smiling fondly, he crept back to the bed he shared with Dex.

“Marella?” He whispered as he settled back into spooning Dex, and Marella into cuddling close to Biana.

“Yeah?” She whispered back.

“In case you didn’t know... Biana does like you back.”

There was a long pause, and Fitz had started drifting to sleep when Marella finally responded.

Her voice was so incredibly fond as she said, “Don’t worry Wonderboy, I knew.” Fitz smiled at the grin in her tone.

And then his eyes were fluttering shut and he was falling into the depths of sleep with Dex in his arms. The world might be shit, but he wasn’t alone, and more importantly? Neither was Biana.

~~

Biana’s sleep passed away dreamlessly, like the careful passage of a spring’s water tumbling over a small pebble or stone in its way; smooth and calming. Her waking however-

“Oh.” The word was spat out bitterly into the quiet room, causing Marella to jerk away, which in turn woke Biana.

She opened her eyes, blinking owlishly at the mixtures of whitish-pink light that was beginning to stream in from the curtain-less window. The sun was just barely starting to rise, but the moon was bright enough to light the room by itself. The other bed was empty but slept-in, and Biana guessed that someone had carried her up to the room while she had been asleep, but they must have left before she awoke.

Still groggy, she scrubbed at her eyes with her fists and looked around. What had-

And then she saw her.

Linh crouched in the now-open window, her form casting sinister shadows across the room. Her hands twisted a bubble of water into a sharp point, and even with the shadows covering her face, Biana could see her glare. Slowly, threateningly, Linh hopped from the windowsill into the room. Behind Biana, Marella stiffened, flicking her hand enough to conjure a small flame, but not enough to set Linh off.

“Linh-” Biana’s voice broke, and she found herself wanting to leap up and embrace her, but she didn’t. Linh wasn’t a friend anymore.

_Linh was Neverseen._

“Linh,” Marella tried, “Why...?”

Linh let out a snort and a sharp laugh, sounding nothing like the kind girl Biana and Marella had once known.

“Why?! Well why ever not?? I was never appreciated! Not like Sophie, not like the _oh so precious Moonlark_. No! HA!! Not even like DEX!! Who’s barely around anyways!! I was simply the Water Girl.” Linh mocked, tilting her head back and forth to accentuate her words, and something in Biana’s chest cracked at the crazed look in her eyes.

“And that was fine! Really, it was!! I could handle _sometimes_ being needed, if that meant I was needed at all. But you know what really did it?” She broke off to pace agitatedly around the room, mumbling to herself.

“He _said_ this would happen, he said it, huh. He knew, Linh, and you didn’t want to believe at first, did you now? No, you didn’t. But you trusted him and he was RIGHT!! Of course he was, he always was.” She jerked her head back to glare at Marella and Biana.

“He was right.” Linh’s voice cracked and she swiped at a tear that slipped past, growling at the inconvenience. Biana again felt the urge to reach out, to hold Linh, to comfort her-

“Who?” Marella asked, so gently, like she was afraid Linh would break. Like Linh hadn’t broken a long time ago, “Who said what would happen?”

Linh smiled an aching and fierce smile, filled only with vitriol and acid.

“Alden!!” She crooned in a sing-song voice. And her words bit into Biana like hail falling from the sky.

“What?!”

“Alden, Alden, Alden.” Linh sang, twisting the water she held into various shapes. A girl the size of her hand, dancing, a hand coming from the sky and grabbing the girl, destroying her and absorbing her into itself, a knife, a noose, a-

“Alden said it,” Linh crooned again, voice darkening once more, “Alden said that you two would turn on me. And he was right. I didn’t want him to be. _I_ loved you _both_ , why couldn’t you love me? But he was right, and now I can’t ever come back, or I might just do something I would have regretted before this.” She gestured vaguely at the bed Biana and Marella shared, the water -now back in the shape of a hand- waving with her.

She shrugged one shoulder and strode back to the window, hopping back onto the ledge and waving slightly.

“But!” Biana cried out, desperate, desperate not to lose her again, desperate for an explanation, desperate for something that wasn’t hers anymore, that was just a memory, a memory already fading, “But what did he _say_?!”

Linh’s face dropped just barely, and her voice was low when she said, “Alden said that no matter how hard I tried to gain both of your affections, it would never work. You’d only fall for each other in the end. He said that it was no use to stay, and if hoping for your affections was the only thing keeping me here... well, then why stay?” She drew herself up again, the last sentence filled with a certain amount of spite, but mostly heartache.

“And so!” She concluded with a wide-spread arm and a slight bow to match her now-peppy voice, “I left!”

Linh moved to slip out the window, but Marella cried out.

“Wait!” Linh paused, and looked back with what Biana so desperately wanted to call hope. Marella was silent, but she looked at Linh with such grief, taking in every aspect of her face like she wanted to memorize it. Still, Marella didn't say a word, and finally, with a snort, Linh’s face shuttered off and she began to swing her legs out.

And after this Biana would have to process what Linh’s words meant for her, and she’d have to tell the Keeper Crew about her father, and she’d have to tell _Fitz_ and her _mom_ about her father, and she’d have to grieve, but in that moment she was just a girl losing the person she loved all over again.

“Linh, I would- I’d die for you Linh!! Please I- Please Linh...” She broke off, tears streaming down her face like abandoned party streamers in the wind.

But when Linh looked back? When Linh looked back there was a bitter and vindicated satisfaction as she replied,

“Oh my darling, haven’t you learned yet? You will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment if you liked it or if you want emotional compensation <3


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